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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23437135">i don’t want to hurt you</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/idrilhadhafang/pseuds/idrilhadhafang'>idrilhadhafang</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Star Wars Sequel Trilogy</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Role Reversal, Angst, Conflicted Ben Solo, Conflicted Poe Dameron, Dark Poe Dameron, Dark Side Finn, First Order Poe Dameron, Jedi Ben Solo, Knight of Ren Poe Dameron, M/M, Resistance Member Ben Solo</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-04-02</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-04-02</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-01 12:00:46</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>760</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23437135</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/idrilhadhafang/pseuds/idrilhadhafang</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Taral Ren tries to persuade Jedi Ben Solo to join him.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Poe Dameron/Ben Solo</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Trope Bingo: Round Fourteen</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>i don’t want to hurt you</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Prompt: Role Reversal</p><p>Disclaimer: I own nothing.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“You’re going to torture me, Poe?”<br/>
<br/>
Taral couldn’t help but wince even as Ben threw that question at him, almost a taunt. It certainly felt like one, at least.<br/>
<br/>
“No. I won’t. Not you. I don't support war crimes. Not like the Resistance.”<br/>
<br/>
“What?” Ben sounded disbelieving. Was he really that naive, Poe couldn’t help but wonder. “We don’t torture. None of us do.”<br/>
<br/>
"And neither do we. Well, maybe Hux does. But he was always in need of a leash.” One thing that Taral can agree on with Snoke; Hux is a rabid cur. Taral just doesn’t see the use for him. “I don’t just want the map. Though there is that.” Skywalker’s a coward and a traitor, and Taral’s going to enjoy it when he falls. “I’ve been away from you too long, Ben. I want you to join me. We can overthrow Snoke. Bring a new Order to the galaxy, a better Order.”<br/>
<br/>
“Poe, don’t.” Ben’s voice cracks. He’s afraid. Doesn’t want to choose between his friends — the monsters he calls friends — and Taral. “Don’t do this. It’s not fair.” He sounds small. Afraid. Who is he to decide what’s fair?<br/>
<br/>
“And it’s not fair that they <em>took </em>you from me." Taral steps forward. Ben looks so fragile on the rack, even though he always towered over Poe. Taral’s a bit embarrassed that he’s still so short next to him. “It wasn’t enough for that <em>hypocrite </em>to try and kill me; he had to take you from me. He had to separate us, split us up. The team.”<br/>
<br/>
“What are you talking about?”<br/>
<br/>
“What? Or who?" Taral says.<br/>
<br/>
The shackles on Ben’s wrists can only be taken off by stormtroopers. Maybe it’s the fact that he’s not about to cage a magnificent bird like Ben, a bird meant to be free, but Taral hasn’t made them Force suppressing. Maybe he doesn’t want Ben to be afraid of him.<br/>
<br/>
But Ben sees the answer in Taral’s mind, and it shatters him. “Uncle Luke?”<br/>
<br/>
Taral nods.<br/>
<br/>
“Why?” Ben says.<br/>
<br/>
“He wanted to put me in my place. And when I refused to stay there...he tried to kill me. Wanted to kill me.”<br/>
<br/>
“And the Temple...”<br/>
<br/>
“The storm,” Taral says. “A Dark Side storm. I didn’t kill them. But I could have saved them.”<br/>
<br/>
His voice trembles, under the mask. It’s embarrassing. But it’s what drove Poe over the edge — knowing he was good as a murderer, and could never go home.<br/>
<br/>
“I want to stop death.” Taral says. “And I want you to join me.”<br/>
<br/>
“By killing people.” Ben’s still clinging. He needs to let go.<br/>
<br/>
“Only if I have to." The Tuanul villagers are spared. Taral can’t help but wonder, in a way, if it’s good publicity for the First Order. Showing they can be fair.<br/>
<br/>
“And that’s better,” Ben says viciously.<br/>
<br/>
“You’ve killed.”<br/>
<br/>
“That’s different,” Ben says. He’s coming apart. Afraid. They’re squashing him in a box that he can never fit. Telling him what to do, what to say — because they want to control him. Make him their weapon. They don’t know him. Taral does, like the back of his hand.<br/>
<br/>
“They want to use you,” Taral says. “You know it’s true. They tell you what to do, what to say. You’re more their weapon than their friend.”<br/>
<br/>
“Stop it.”<br/>
<br/>
“They don’t know you. They’re lying to you.”<br/>
<br/>
Ben pauses. Tears are brimming in his eyes. Taral doesn’t want to hurt him — he loves Ben too much for that.<br/>
<br/>
“I’m sorry, Ben.” he says.<br/>
<br/>
“Is Snoke better?”<br/>
<br/>
“No. But I am.”<br/>
<br/>
Ben’s considering. It seems like too long. Then, “I won’t betray the Resistance.” His voice shakes, though.<br/>
<br/>
Taral removes his mask — revealing his face. He can feel Ben’s awe, and his grief.<br/>
<br/>
“Just think about it,” he says softly. “I can help you. I don’t want to hurt you, Ben.”<br/>
<br/>
<em>Just think of us as a modern day Revan and Bastila. </em><br/>
<br/>
***<br/>
<br/>
He walks out of the interrogation room, helmet back on. He feels imprisoned by it, but it’s more a symbol than anything else. Finn Ren, one of his Knights, looks at him.<br/>
<br/>
“Taral,” he says, “Are you all right?”<br/>
<br/>
Taral pauses. The truth is, he sees Finn as very much the brother he never had. But there are some things he can’t tell him. He’s kept secrets from everyone in the First Order, as far as he can remember. This is no exception.<br/>
<br/>
“I am. He’ll understand. Once he sees, he’ll understand." Taral wonders if he’s trying to reassure himself more than anything.</p>
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